The Legend Of Zelda A Hero's Memoirs
by Lyrista
Summary: In your hands you hold the Memoirs of the Hero Of Hyrule Link. Immerse yourself in his own personal recounting of his adventure to save Hyrule and rescue Princess Zelda. At long last the true accounting of what really happened on that fateful adventure! (Quasi Novelization of the original NES classic the Legend of Zelda)
1. Chapter 1 A Hero's Beginnings

Hey Guys, Lyrisa here. I've been working on my Kingdom Hearts fic and it's been fighting me. It's been fighting me hard. In all honesty it's been winning right now and I'm not making much progress. So rather than beating my head against the wall I decided to take a step back and work on a lighter project to let my brain untangle. I was reading a Breath of the Wild fic on Spacebattles Rise of the Technocratic Union by GreggHL, which is an enjoyable read btw, and I decided why not do my own Zelda fic? Instead of portraying the most recent Zelda game, why not go all the way in the other direction and do the original Legend of Zelda? With the far more simple story and characters that opens the door for me to input my own flavor and spin on things. Also rather than go with a novelization style I thought I'd try something different. I hope you enjoy the style and please leave your thoughts and feedback, it helps me refine my amateur scribblings into something remotely acceptable.

The Legend of Zelda

A Hero's Memoirs

My name is Link. I am the Hero of Hyrule, Savior of Kingdoms, and rescuer of Princesses. Perhaps you have heard of me?

By now many Bards have told my story, many writers have detailed their impressions of my journey. Some have had the grain of truth, others had veered widely into fiction and myth.

Some of those are actually even well written, that reminds me, I'll have to pick up the next volume and see what my favorite author has me up to next. Story is downright bizarre but it has me curious about what's coming next.

Legend has it that Hyrule has faced destruction more than once before in the past and a Hero has risen up to save it. I often wonder if they had to deal with hack writers trying to make a quick rupee off them and earn their 15 minutes of fame.

Where was I again? Sorry I lost my train of thought.

Still, people have their own idealized idea of what a Hero is, and the truth often gets lost in history. So I felt it was high past time that I got my own account of what happened out there. So that the masses could know the Hylian behind the name Link.

Hey cmon now, don't look at me like that. So I earn some money on the side from book sales too. Even a Hero has got to eat you know!

Anyway, even Heroes have humble beginnings. They aren't mythical beings that appear out of nowhere because fate said so! They're common men and women who lead common lives.

At least until destiny comes crashing down on their heads and burns everything to the ground.

Unrest had been growing in Hyrule. Rumors had reached us of an army of monsters raised and led by a Sorcerer Thief who had some sort of ridiculous name that at the time I could never really remember. Troubling tales of burned and looted towns, their inhabitants slaughtered.

What did we have to fear though? No one would come out to the middle of nowhere, surely nothing would harm us all the way out here.

I'll pause for a moment until you're all done laughing hysterically.

I was at the ripe old age of 14. Just barely a teenager. Naturally of course that meant I thought I knew everything I wanted out of life and I was the master of my fate. Oh what a naive boy I was.

I was just a simple peasant, living in a simple backwater village, comfortably situated in the middle of nowhere. Sleepy villages like ours were a common sight in the mostly untamed wilderness of northern Hyrule. The closest city was Hyrule Castle Town which was still a good long ways to the south.

We were mostly farmers, gatherers, and a few such as myself were hunters. I was proud of my work as I helped provide for the village and supplement my family.

Sorry but no Heroic Lineage to speak of here I'm afraid. My mother and father were simply farmers, they were content with their lot as was I.

In all honesty if anyone in my family was going to be the Legendary Hero _ **tm,**_ I would of thought it was going to be my 12 year old little sister Linkle. Yes, yes I know. My parents had no naming sense at all, but I loved them both just the same.

She was a cheerful and rambunctious child. Always curious and going off exploring.

Too bad for her she didn't have the directional sense to find her way out of an empty room.

She was cute as a button and a total tomboy. Our family positively adored her. She had heard about the troubles in the land and had gotten it into her head that she would become the Legendary Hero and save us all.

Maybe she could of done it too, I was darn good with a hunting bow but she was even better than me. I remember that when we would practice our archery together she would give me that big rosy cheeked smile and say, "I'll protect the whole country and I'll protect you Big Brother!"

…...Bless her little heart.

So anyone else feeling alarm yet? Well for good reason.

It all started one day when I was out hunting like usual. It had been a slow day and I had yet to be able to find any wild game.

Pickings had been disturbingly thin lately but at the time I hadn't given it any thought. Why would I?

It was then when I saw it.

The biggest and most beautiful looking deer I had ever seen. It was truly a magnificent looking specimen. Large and fit enough to feed me and my family for a week! Naturally I had to bring it down. Carrying my trusty hunting bow and quiver I crept close to my target, confident in my skills to take it down before it knew I was there.

It spotted me quickly however and ran off, cursing my luck I followed as best as I could, tracking it with all of my skill as a huntsman.

The blasted critter led me on a merry chase, always keep tantalizingly out of reach. Darting away just when I thought I had snuck up on it and lined up a shot at the last second.

I swear to Hylia it was laughing at me.

I followed that infernal deer for hours before I finally had to give up.

Now you see destiny is truly a cruel thing. The call to an epic adventure! Journeying out into the unknown to seek your fortune!

One can hardly do such a thing when you've got familial obligations as well as friends to think about.

Well you see the Goddesses in all their Wisdom, Power, and Courage said "Don't you worry Link, you just let us clear all those nasty responsibilities of yours right up!"

By the time I finally made it back to the village, I was greeted to the sight of it burning to the ground.

Not a single soul was there to be found.

I was alone.

That was where it all began…..

 _ **Man, after beating my head uselessly against the wall to finish chapter 3 of my KH story I crank this out in less than an hour. So here's Chapter 1 of my mini story for Legend of Zelda. This is basically the first half of the prologue. I wanted to set the stage for the story. I'm writing the second half now. Maybe will even finish it tonight. Please tell me your thoughts, your feedback helps me grow. Even your criticism. I hope my portrayal of this Link is and continues to be interesting.**_


	2. Chapter 2 It's Dangerous To Go Alone!

Hey everyone. Lyrista here. Here's Chapter 2 of a Hero's Memoirs. I honestly don't expect chapters to be very big. I intend this to be more of a lighter unwind story when I need a break from my KH fic to hammer out some details. Hope you enjoyed the first chapter as I have a lot planned for this story, especially after the first Dungeon.

A Hero's Memoirs

Chapter 2

I honestly don't remember much about those first few minutes when I found my burning village.

Stories would often describe the intense emotional anguish a hero would go through. The beseechal of the Heavens for the answer to why? The vows of vengeance.

I was numb.

I was in shock.

The peace of my life had been shattered like glass and it took me several minutes before I could recover my wits and dash home in hopes of finding my family.

I'll give you three guesses of the result and the first two don't count.

When I finally made it back home, I was only greeted by a fire gutted ruin. The burnt and batter shapes of my parents laying motionlessly on the ground. Even at a glance it was clear to see they were gone.

Where was Linkle?

I continued to search frantically for her, the foul scent of charred flesh and the reek of blood everywhere.

My search took me back into the village when I didn't find my sister at the ruins of our house.

I lost track of time as I searched through the burning village as best as I could, calling her name and praying to any deity that would listen that I would get a response.

Only the crackling and popping of the flames devouring everything I knew and love answered me.

It was then I finally found something besides the dead bodies of the other villagers that I was desperately trying not to think about.

It was Linkle.

Her wide unseeing eyes were focused up at the smoke covered sky, her broken bow laying near her unmoving hand. Her wounds….

I couldn't look at them for long. It was clear she hadn't had an easy death. Or a quick one. Spent arrows were littered all around her, most of them coating with blackish and purplish blood.

Monsters…..

Monsters had come and laid waste to the village. They had killed everyone.

From what little I could tell Linkle had done her best to defend them, she had given as good as she had got. From the amount of the putrid blood around her, she had likely killed several of them.

Unfortunately for her, that seemed to just make the remainder especially mad at her and this was the result…..

Now you would think this would be the part where I get the grand divine revelation. That I would be contacted telepathically by Princess Zelda to be told that I was the Chosen One and the fate of Hyrule rested upon my teenage shoulders!

There was none of that here.

Just a young boy cradling his little sister's broken body to his chest and crying with all of his heart.

It took the rest of the night for the fire to finally finish devouring the village. I couldn't bring myself to care. Lost in my misery and grief.

When the sun rose on the new day I finally was able to regather myself. I did what I could for the villagers and buried them.

I laid my family to rest in graves outside my ruined home.

I knew I couldn't stay here any longer. There was nothing left for me here. All I could do was scrounge for what I could and get ready. I gathered what food I could get, and the only intact set of my clothes I could find. My trusty leather armor and my green tunic, breeches, and hat.

Weapons wise I still had my bow and arrows. I held out hope that one of the few swords in the village could be found, but unfortunately our resident pillaging horde had decided yesterday would be a lovely day to sprinkle in a bit of robbery along with the murder and massacre.

Jerks.

I was able to luck out and find an old shield that the mayor had managed to hide away, a relic from his glory days as a solider of Hyrule before he retired and moved out here to live out his golden years. It was old and battered but it seemed serviceable enough.

As best as I could figure, my best bet would be to try to hike my way to Castle Town and try to find sanctuary there. Maybe with luck I could support myself by joining the castle guard. Seemed like a good a plan as any. After all since when could a lone child wander the wilderness of Hyrule on his own and expect to survive? Silly right?

I was on my way with the clothes on my back and a few days worth of food along with a simple shield and a hunting bow and arrows to defend myself with.

I wasn't liking the odds very much.

Anyway as I began the trek to Castle Town I stopped by the cave of the local hermit who lived there for some Goddess awful reason to warn him about the band of murderous psychos wandering about. He was a crazy old coot to be sure but was harmless enough. Sometimes the villagers would visit him with food to make sure the old man was still ok.

Much to my surprise the old man greeted me with a wooden sword as a gift as he proclaimed, "It's dangerous to go alone, TAKE THIS!"

To this very day I never understood why that old man felt the need to actually sing those words in an almost booming rhyme.

Daft old man….. though he was looking out for me in his own way and I couldn't help but be fond of the crazy old coot.

Still a weapon is a weapon and I won't turn my nose up at one. Especially in dark times like these. I just wish it had an actual cutting edge…..

I thanked the old man and continued on my way.

Castle Town was several days away at my current pace but I was determined to get there and start my new life.

Destiny however had other plans and didn't intend to take no for an answer.

Years of hunting had sharpened my senses and all of the sudden I could distantly hear the screams and shouts of what sounded like an elderly woman and the roars and inhuman shouts of what had to be monsters.

A flickering flame of rage kindled in my chest as I took up my bow and shifted my shield onto my back as I darted with the soundless grace of a hunter towards the sounds of the melee as fast as I could.

My suspicions were confirmed, an elderly woman wearing a hooded traveling robe was being accosted by 5 burly Moblins. The disgusting looking pig monsters leered at their prey as they lifted their weapons, savoring the coming slaughter of their helpless prey who was clearly worn out and exhausted.

Not on my watch! I won't allow the Elderly to be preyed upon in my presence! My mind couldn't help but flash back to memories of an elderly matron who lived in my village and was dearly loved by the children of our village as I was growing up. Who could ever forget her delightful baked treats she would give us.

This would not stand!

I nocked arrows as fast as I could and fired at the Moblins as fast as I could. They roared and screeched with shock as several of them struck home but to my shock the arrows barely seemed to hurt them, only minor wounds at best. I finally got lucky and one of my arrows plowed right into a Moblin's eye.

It felt to the ground howling in pain and rage as the others finally rallied and pinpointed my position and charged me as they screamed battle cries as they hefted crude axes and spears.

Cursing under my breath I backpedaled and fired as fast as I could but still couldn't bring any of them down.

How the heck had Linkle managed to drop any of these things? What the heck were they even made out of?

I couldn't help but yelp as the first Moblin was upon me, it's axe scything out to reap my blood as well as my life. I dodged backward frantically and managed to evade but my faithful hunting bow was not so lucky as it was cleanly broken in half and fell from my hands.

The other Moblins were almost upon me, howling in glee at what they thought would be an easy kill. A chilling premonition of death filled me before that flickering flame in my chest intensified burning hotter than before.

By Din's light I was not going to die here! My right hand darted back to grab and ready my shield while my left hand drew my wooden sword and with a roar I leapt forward to attack.

My swordsmanship was dazzling and peerless as I effortlessly cleaved…..

….

What's with that skeptical look you're giving me?

Ok fine.

I admit that at the time of that fight I was a totally amateur when it came to the sword. My strategy more or less amounted to me swinging my sword wildly more like a club then anything else while screaming at the top of my lungs like a deranged lunatic.

Truly a terrifying sight to behold I'm sure.

A swordsman newbie wielding a wooden sword that couldn't cut much less penetrate the thick almost armored hides of the Moblins. Sounds like a one sided fight eh?

It would have been if it hadn't been for that little special something about me.

You see I had no real talent for magical spells. Yet I did have magical power is what I found out. The local magician/healer that lived in the village had discovered my power when I was young. He had tried to teach me magic but I never could figure out how to make it work. It seemed magic power or not I couldn't make it do anything.

Accept for one thing.

The wooden sword in my hand glowed with a dim red light as instead of rebounding off the Moblin's hide it cleaved right through and blood spurted from the wound freely. The monster gurgled in agony before it finally exploded in a flare of harmless dark energy that dissipated without leaving a body.

The Moblins recoiled in shock at the sudden death of one of their own and me still riding my adrenaline high continued to club and hack away at my prey while frantically using my shield to block incoming attacks.

I was able to repel most of them but a few spear strikes got through and soon I was bleeding from some minor wounds of my own.

The battle lasted for moments. Or was it a short eternity? I never could really remember, but soon enough it was all over. I stood triumphant over my monstrous foes and the Elderly Woman was saved.

Never would I have realized that my random act of kindness/Good Samaritan act of murder would cause me to meet the woman who would set me onto the path to my destiny.

 _ **It's getting late so I'm going to stop here for now. This is the end of the prologue. From here Link learns of his destiny and what he is to face and sets off to find the first labyrinth. Besides the first fragment of the Triforce of Wisdom, he will have an unexpected encounter…..**_


	3. Chapter 3 Impa's Tale

Hey everyone, Lyrista here. Yep, I didn't make you wait six months for this next part even if it isn't very big. Without any further ado, on with chapter 3!

A Hero's Memoirs

Chapter 3

Now I had just finished rescuing the Elderly Lady, who introduced herself as Impa by the way, I soon found out just how important this person was.

As it turns out I had just saved the nursemaid of Princess Zelda herself! What are the odds?

Since we're talking about Fate and Destiny here, I'm going to take a stab in the dark and say the chances were 100%.

Anyway, getting back to the totally coincidental and accidental meeting, Impa told me her story.

The royal family has long since been the keepers and guardians of the magical wish granting triangles…. * **cough*** I mean the sacred relic known as the Triforce. That's totally what I said.

As it happened the sorcerer thief Ganonderk….. Ganodurf…...Ganondork…..

Oh to heck with it, I'll just call him Ganon. Honestly his real name is stupid anyway.

So Ganon had formed an army of monsters and sent them to attack Hyrule Castle Town. In response, Zelda used the Triforce of Wisdom's power to form a magical shield over the city and prevent it from being invaded while the King rallied the forces of Hyrule's army to prepare to fight and defend the city.

Unfortunately for them it was all a ruse and Ganon's target was somewhere completely different.

While the Triforce of Wisdom was kept in the Capital, the Triforce of Power was actually stored somewhere else. A sacred temple from far in the past was where it was kept.

When I say far in the past, I mean WAY far in the past. No one actually remembers what the place was called it was so long ago. Legend has it something was sealed there for millennia. Some even say it was some sort of giant demon avocado monster but even I think that's ridiculous.

C'mon, how gullible are people anyway?

According to Impa, after one of the more recent defeats of the so called ancient evil that attempted to destroy Hyrule and had the Triforce of Power, the King of Hyrule of that time decided to have the Triforce of Power hidden in this long forgotten place so that it could never fall into the hands of evil again.

This forgotten sacred temple had a few token guards, but the true defenses of the place were the powerful magical barriers and seals that would deny entry. Thus the Triforce of Power was protected from the unwashed masses that would seek to abuse the power of the magical wish granting triangle.

Too bad Ganon was no ordinary rube. He was a sorcerer of actually impressive power and actually managed to rip open the seals guarding the place and seize the Triforce of Power.

Naturally the royal family detected the intrusion in that sealed place but with Ganon's army literally on their doorstep, they couldn't afford to leave and open the city to assault.

Once Ganon had his prize, his army abandoned the assault on the capital and rejoined their master.

That's when things began to get ugly for the kingdom.

With the Triforce of Power under his control, Ganon's army began to run wild across the kingdom as they looted and pillaged.

The royal family had to respond.

The king marshaled Hyrule's armies and joined by his 15 year old daughter Zelda, the currently bonded wielder of the Triforce of Wisdom, the army rode out to subdue Ganon and his army.

I'm sure you can guess how well that went for them.

By then Ganon had fully assimilated the Triforce of Power, but he had found he couldn't bond with it perfectly. While he could wield it's power, the imperfection of their bond caused him to lose his human form and he changed into a form that reflected his heart.

A blue obese demonic pig.

Laugh if you want, Nayru knows I did at the time, but even if Ganon now looked utterly ridiculous and desperately in need of a 5 step exercise and diet plan, it augmented his already considerable powers and gave him a truly nightmarish ability.

Extreme resistance to physical attacks. Thank Farore Ganon couldn't completely bond with the Triforce of Power or I suspect he would have been flat out invulnerable and I wouldn't be telling you this story today.

What's worse for Hyrule is Ganon used his magic to link to his monsters and was able to pass on a lesser version of his physical resistance to his army. It took an ABSURD amount of physical punishment to kill his monsters and regular weapons were almost worthless against them.

To this day I still think my sister must have been truly amazing to kill some of them with just her bow and arrows before they brought her down with sheer numbers.

Whatever history may say, you'll always be a hero to me sis.

Sadly Hyrule's army didn't realize how horribly out matched they were until it was too late.

Hyrule's army and Ganon's legions soon clashed and the regular soldiers were just simply butchered. Even the King was killed as well. The presence of the court Magician's and Zelda herself was honestly the only thing that even made it a fight at all.

For all the monster's resistance to physical attacks, Ganon's imperfect bond with the Triforce couldn't shield them from magical attacks.

The magicians managed to do a good amount of damage before they were brought down but it was Zelda herself who was the true MVP on the Hyrule side.

Impa's words painted a vivid picture for me and I almost wished I could of seen it for myself. Zelda stood alone against insurmountable odds, the mark of the Triforce blazing on her hand with light as she decimated Ganon's army with magical blasts and dazzling arrays of spells backed by the almost omnipotent power of the Triforce of Wisdom itself as she unleashed her full power that day.

She might of even been able to carry the day herself and save the kingdom by herself if Ganon himself hadn't taken the field at that point.

Then commenced a truly terrible battle of magic and sorcery of two truly talented magicians both backed by relics of the Goddesses themselves. The sights and sounds and majesty of it were truly worth their own song and epic to describe them.

Sadly I was not there for this so I cannot provide that for you, but Impa assures me it was truly a sight to behold.

Now facing her opposite on the battlefield and the remnants of his fighting force surrounding her with her own troops dead and dying around her, Zelda's fight began to struggle. If Ganon was to defeat and capture her, it would be simplicity in itself for him to extract the Triforce of Wisdom from her. If Ganon had two Triforces at his command his victory would be complete and assured. Zelda couldn't allow this scenario to come about. With Ganon countering her every move and the noose of monsters closing in, she embarked on one final desperate gambit.

Unleashing the full power of the Triforce of Wisdom she fragmented it into eight parts and scattered them across Northern Hyrule, secreting them in long forgotten dungeons and labyrinths. Exhausted from this exertion and with Ganon and his forces closes in, Zelda used the last of her power to teleport Impa away with instructions to find the Hero.

Which according to Destiny means me. Not that anyone asks my opinion on the matter or anything. I'm sure anyone finds the idea of risking their lives to be a fun afternoon activity.

Hyrule Castle Town was still safe under the barrier erected previously but Ganon only needed the two Triforces to shatter it without any difficultly. Currently his forces were scouring the countryside to locate the missing Triforce shards, apparently the group that attacked my village was one of these roaming search parties just looking for a good time to break up the tedium of the search.

Can't say I really appreciate that either. Though if Destiny is set on throwing me at them, let's see how they like being on the other end of a murder party hmm?

So the task was clear. Find the eight shards of the Triforce of Wisdom before the far more numerous members of Ganon army do, unite the Triforce of Wisdom and somehow figure out how to use it in the interim, and somehow kill a significantly more experienced sorcerer backed by his own divine artifact when someone who already knew how to use the Triforce of Wisdom couldn't do it.

Yeah no pressure at all there Impa thanks. I saved your life and get sent on a suicide mission in return. There's gratitude for you.

….

Ok fine, I totally melted like butter in the face of her sad hopeful eyes when she pleaded to me to save her charge who she helped raise from a baby.

Curse my bleeding soft heart.

Apparently Impa had spent a lot of time in the castle library and some of her research involved the very likely places the Triforce of Wisdom would have been hidden. All she could recall from memory however were names and likely shapes.

Eagle

Moon

Manji

Snake

Lizard

Dragon

Demon

Lion

Death Mountain

Real cheery sounding places at that. I'm going to assume they're names of places and not actual things as I don't think I want to mess with a dragon, not even for an omnipotent wish granting triangle.

Impa did have a general location for one of the places, apparently the Eagle dungeon.

Wouldn't you know it? It was totally coincidentally not far from here. How about that.

When I asked her if she had a map of Northern Hyrule handy she of course didn't have one. Because we can't have nice things of course or this epic adventure wouldn't be epic would it?

I mean who would want to watch me blunder around Northern Hyrule and hope I coincidentally find the Labyrinths. Not to mention the time limit before Ganon's army finds the shards.

Still it wasn't all bad, Impa did teach me a pretty nifty trick.

When I revealed to her I had been able to kill those Moblins by channeling my magical energy into my sword to give it magical properties, she taught me how to shoot my magical energy from my sword in what I affectionately call a sword beam to attack enemies from afar!

Plus it looks pretty cool when I do it too. A shame it only works when I'm full of my life force and not wounded at all. Still I'll take whatever I can get to get through this mission.

Impa and I parted ways at this point, I offered to escort her back to Castle Town, but she declined and urged me to make haste and start my search immediately.

Alright then, lets get started. One of me versus several hundred of them.

What could possibly go wrong?

 _ **That's a wrap for Chapter 3. We're now at the canonical start of Zelda 1. Next time Link journeys to Eagle Labyrinth as the adventure begins!**_


	4. Chapter 4 Go North Young Man!

Hey everyone, Lyrista here. Looked like this story was just the distraction I needed to finally finish my current KH chapter. Well let's keep going shall we?

The Legend of Zelda A Hero's Memoirs

Chapter 4

Alright, you could say we've finally arrived at the true beginning of my story. All the necessary exposition has been told, my horribly cliched heroic tragic backstory has had all the appropriate cliche boxes ticked off. Now my epic adventure can finally begin!

Well it turns out that adventures can't start without a close encounter with the ultimate evil.

No I'm not talking about the Red Octoroks that were patrolling the general area. I'm talking about something far more diabolical.

Merchants.

Now wait, here me out here. I can respect a man or woman trying to make an honest living selling goods. Commerce drives the economy after all. What ruffles my tunic is when price gouging bozos who live out in the middle of nowhere think that just because you're the first customer they've seen in almost a year means that they can fleece you out of every rupee you own!

I mean cmon! I just happen to be working my tail off to save the whole blasted country! I should at least get a discount or something!

So what if I haven't actually done anything yet! It's the principal of the thing!

Well anyway….

"Buy something will ya!" the merchant gruffly growled at me, great customer service by the way, before jerking his head to indicate his wages. An average looking key for 100 rupees, a pretty magical looking shield for 160, and a blue candle of all things for 60 rupees.

Even after some good natured haggling, which may or may not have included subtle implications of the merchant's mother having romantic preferences for cacti, the merchant bizarrely was unwilling to budge on his prices.

He even threatened to throw me out when I asked if he wanted one of my kidneys while he was at it. Blasted man can't take a joke. No positive review for his shop from me.

He even tried to pass that silly looking blue candle off as a magical item to me to justify it's mark up because get this. The candle lights up a ROOM! It can even burn things!

I'm sure we all haven't seen a candle do that before. As much as I would of loved to have that nice looking magical shield, I wasn't going to spend a single rupee on this ripoff artist.

It certainly had nothing to do with the fact that I had nowhere near enough rupees from what little I had been able to scavenge after the Octoroks outside suffered a bizarre unexplainable case of sudden death.

Well moving on from that riveting interlude of mercantile buffoonery, the journey toward the Eagle Labyrinth continued.

As I continued through the forests while heading north, the Octoroks began to appear in increasing numbers. Their biology is a bit weird, I've never understood where they were getting the rocks they'd spit out at me. Monsterologists theorized they'd inhale them up and stock them as weaponry but I've never seen them do it around me.

Still there was plenty of cover and my shield was more than up to the tasks of protecting me while I got close and cut them down. Fairly easy prey all told.

To be fair they were the opening act.

It wasn't too long until I was able to hear the sound of water in the distance as I began to close in on the lake where the labyrinth was held according to Impa.

Regrettably I wasn't able to appreciate the lake's beauty thanks to the pesky infestation of Red Leevers that burst from the ground to rush me. What are they? Just think of parasites that like to suck on the blood and energy of anything that gets near.

Got that mental image? Now make that parasite the size of a large dog and imagine it rushing at you in packs.

I'm sure your impulse was the same as mine, frenzied stabbing until they stop moving

Ugh...nasty little critters. They're nosy little scavengers and tend to like shiny things like rupees so I got a nice haul off them. That was right about the time when the fireball from a Zola in the lake hit me and knocked me to the ground.

Also lit me on fire.

Which naturally of course I took like a champ and didn't spend the next 10 seconds rolling on the ground squealing like a five year old girl.

Nope, not at all.

Now Zolas are fire breathing fish monsters that live in the water. Please don't mistake them as Zora, this is a very common misunderstanding that the Zora find deeply offensive.

The Zora are actually pretty friendly and personable chaps. Seriously if you see one you'd know they look nothing like Zolas.

Anyway I was now wounded, bereft of my beloved sword beam, and fuming with anger at being unable to avenge myself on my slippery foe who had already submerged and vanished from view.

After dodging several more fireballs from the cowardly monster who refused to get into sword range as it was a sissy and I didn't have any ranged attacks right now, I finally had enough and continued on my way.

After heading north I reached the bridge that ran out to the island where the labyrinth was found. Of course I found more of my friends the Red Octoroks, another Zola, and a new encounter of my first Blue Octorok.

I would of course reason out later in the adventure that the monsters would come in colored tiers that denoted strength. Red and Orange types were the weakest and Blue types were stronger.

The strength difference varied of course, some had more attack power, some had better defenses, and some were simply smarter. A few lucky slobs had all of the above, but more on that later.

Sadly for the Blue Octorok, all it had going for it was the ability to take an extra hit from my sword and live. It lasted only a few seconds longer than the rest. After collecting my spoils it was time to cross the bridge and find my target.

After pointedly ignoring and dodging the Zola, I crossed the bridge and reached the island.

Apparently I wasn't the only one who had reached it. I could see the tracks of many monsters on the island and worse yet, a lone Red Octorok stood as sentry. I slew it quickly to prevent it from raising the alarm as I quickly found the entrance to the Labyrinth in the doorway of a hollowed out tree, dimly lit steps leading downward.

As I looked down the steps I caught my first whiff of what was down there.

Hoo boy did it ever reek! Stale air, moldy stench, and the faint fragrance of…..something I didn't want to spend much time thinking about.

Still the first fragment of the Triforce of Wisdom lay within and unfortunately I could tell Ganon's forces did as well. I was out of time, I had to get to the fragment before Ganon's forces could run off with it.

Steeling myself I stepped down the stairs into the Eagle Labyrinth as my hand tightened it's grip on my sword in determination.

There's no way I can fail.

 _ **Alright then, that'll do for Chapter 4. Next time is the dungeon crawl for Eagle Labyrinth with a special surprise waiting for Link at the end. Should be able have this out in a few days. I've been able to get into the writing grove lately.**_


	5. Chapter 5 Eagle Dungeon

Hey everyone, Lyrista here. This chapter is a bit late as I have been sick for the last four days and generally too tired to write, even a short chapter like this one. I'm hoping to get back in the swing of things and refine my rhythm as I bring you the first dungeon crawl of the story. Hopefully I can make it interesting to read. Without further ado, on with the show!

The Legend of Zelda

A Hero's memoirs

Chapter 5

I took my first steps into the Eagle Labyrinth, as my eyes adjusted to the dimmer light. Spread out before me was and entry chamber filled with statues depicting dragons on the right, and statues depicting stone faces on the left. The pure symmetrical size of the room along with the stylized statues made it easy to see that this dungeon was man made. Even looking back later, I never could figure out what these labyrinths were for. Apparently Zelda had only secreted the Triforce shards here recently, yet these dungeons had apparently existed long before then.

It didn't really matter though, as I had a job to do. Thankfully the room was well lit by strategic torches placed on the walls, which easily let me see there were three ways out of the room besides where I came in. The locked door to the north, and open doors to the east and west.

Still how long have these torches been here? Or did Ganon's goon squad bring them here. There I go rambling again….

Anyway, not having the key to the locked door, I first checked the room to the west.

Only to be greeted by an empty room, only graced by 3 simple bat monsters called Keese. What, did the ancient labyrinth builders run out of budget already? Honestly a bit underwhelming.

Still, anything lurking in here was likely Ganon's cronies so I took no chances and wiped out the bats. Surprisingly enough, I was rewarded with a single key shimmering into view with a burst of magic and a strange catchy jingle of sound ringing in the air.

Ok, that apparently is going to be a thing now. Still, I had the key I was looking for now, and returned to the entry chamber. As I made ready to unlock the door, I couldn't help but glance toward the eastern room. North was clearly the way to go, but my inner kleptomanai…..*cough* I mean my inner explorer urged me to explore the other room.

Who am I to say no to the voices in my head? Anyway, I stored the key in my trusty bag of holding and headed for the eastern door.

Oh right, the bag of holding, sorry I should of explained that one earlier. You remember the magician who taught me how to manipulate my magical energy right? He actually gave me this sweet bag of holding for my ninth birthday. Best gift I ever had.

It would help I would get a LOT of mileage out of this baby in the weeks to come. Anyway, back to the exploration.

In the next room I bumped into my next group of foes, who managed to be a tad more menacing then the trio of Keese. A group of undead skeletons called Stalfos, wielding dual rusty swords which had honestly seem some better days. Judged by the battered armored regalia on the skeletons, I was actually looking at the reanimated remains of dead Hyruliean knights.

Even after death they had been reanimated and enslaved by their murderers. Thankfully for my health and amateur sword skills, their own swordsmanship did not carry over into their unlife. They were slow and predictable and I didn't have much trouble smashing them into dust with my trusty blunt instrument that I liked to pretend was a wooden sword.

Thank Din I could get some practice on something easy, imagine if these things could throw around sword beams like me? Brrr…...I don't even want to think about dealing with that. Perhaps Ganon's army only recently found this place and had yet to establish a heavy presence yet?

Interestingly enough, one skeleton dropped another key along with some assorted rupees with the other Stalfos. After gathering my spoils and whispering a short prayer for their departed spirits, I returned to the entryway to unlock the door, and move deeper into the dungeon. Sadly the key I used vanished with a burst of magic after unlocking the door. Seems they're single use only. Which is ridiculous for a key, but I suppose the ancient dungeon builders can't have their dungeon be too easy eh? Jerks.

Continuing into the next room, with a group of pillars in the center of the room, I spotted three more Stalfos to fight. How many of the poor knights had been raised like this?

Even I couldn't help feel anger that not even death was allowed to be an escape from Ganon. After eliminating the threat and hopefully releasing their souls, I continued through the northern exit to the room, the only way forward.

In the next room, I was greeted by five more Stalfos to smash in what I was likely going to have to rename the Stalfos Sanctuary with the unending groups of the bone brigade I kept having to deal with.

The boneheads were easy enough to crush and my exertions were rewarded with another key appearing like magic, but with no door leading north, now I needed to decide if to head east or to head west.

Well I headed west first last time, lets try east this time! Yay for variety! This time I was greeted by my old pal the Keese. Eight of them this time. The Keese aren't all that dangerous or even aggressive, but they do like to swarm and they're annoying little blood suckers that will latch on and chow down on you.

Plus not all that sanitary either, so the less biting the better. After wiping out the pest infestation, I spotted an interesting item laying on the floor. It was a compass, after picking it up, the needle begin to spin wildly, and then pointed to the northeast. I didn't realize it at the time, but this object was pointing to something extremely important that both I and Ganon were looking for.

Still there was no way out of the room except back where I came, backtracking to the previous room, I then took the western exit, only to jump in surprise as the door slammed shut behind me.

Hey cmon now, all previous doors had been opened, I didn't expect to get locked in! Glancing around quickly, I could see another group of Keese and a locked door to the North which I fortunately had two keys in stock for.

After wiping out the winged blood suckers, the door that had slammed shut on me opened back up with a clang. Apparently the Keese's presence had sealed the room somehow. Later I would find out this would be a reoccurring theme as Ganon gained power over the labyrinths, but more on that later. I used one of my two keys to unlock the northern door and continued onward and found myself face to face with the weirdest monsters yet.

Three fists sized moving blobs of jiggling jello that wandered aimless through the room. I watched the bizarre little critters move about the room I then noticed they actually seemed to be picking up dust and grime as they passed, leaving cleaned tile floors in their wake. Are these actually dungeon cleaners or something?

They didn't seem malicious, but they seemed almost mindless as they moved to engulf and pick up anything smaller then them. Glancing around there were two doors leading from this room, a sealed one to the west, and an open one to the east. Glancing at the sealed door, I tapped it, pulled on it, and pushed it. Nothing seemed to move it.

Were the monsters in the room holding the door shut? Glancing at the cleaner monsters, which I later named Gels, I felt almost like a bully as I move to dispatch them. Even when they disappeared in the puffs of smoke that other monsters did, the western door remained shut. Glaring at the door, I leaned against the nearby block sitting in the middle of the room as I pondered the problem.

My compass was pointing away from the door to the east, so it didn't seem too important, yet something inside me protested at the idea of leaving a stone unturned in this place. As I struggled to think up a plan how to deal with the door, the block I was leaning against shifted and moved to the side as I fell to the ground with a thump as the formerly sealed door opened.

That's the grand story how I figured out that some blocks could be moved around in the dungeon to create effects. Only my dignity as the cost of admission.

Anyway, I entered the opened door and was greeted with a dark empty room, lit by two ghostly burning flames.

Along with an actual ghost of a sagely looking elderly man. Yep, this place is officially haunted. Yet I couldn't help but wonder what words of wisdom this dignified looking man had for me as I approached.

" _ **Eastern most Peninsula is the secret!"**_ the ghostly man's ethereal voice boomed in the room.

I paused and waited for the ghost to elaborate… and continued to wait…

Waited some more…..

"What secret?" I finally shouted in exasperation. Sadly I got no response. Lovely.

The only thing worse than a cryptic ghostly message is an automated cryptic ghostly message. What a waste of time.

I went back the way I came in disgust, this time leaving the room through the open eastern exit. I entered into a room filled with pillars and more of those cleaner gel monsters which I was content to ignore this time, as I saw something far more interesting in the corner of the room.

The most wonderful thing an adventurer can find on his adventure. A hylia blessed MAP! As I opened this blessed treasure of the Goddess I finally got a good look at the layout of this labyrinth.

Wouldn't you know it, it was shaped in a passable image of an eagle. As I studied it further, the compass I had kept in my bag glowed and burst out as the compass suddenly merged with the map as the room that was the rightmost tip of the eagle's right wing began to glow with a blinking light.

Two hundred and fifty five rupees say that glowing room is where the Triforce shard must be. As glad as I was to finally know where my target was, I couldn't help but be curious of the other unexplored path through the north exit which would lead towards the head of the eagle in the dungeon's shape which just lay three rooms away according to the map.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained am I right? I stowed my map and headed through the open door to the north while ignoring the locked door to the east for now. Then I entered a room that had it's first true change in scenery since I got here. This room was flooded in various areas with water who's depth I couldn't truly gauge. The tiled floor meandered through the room in a twisted but clear path, while three Stalfos wandered the paths aimlessly looking for prey.

Unfortunately for them, they found me. After slaying them all and looting the key that they dropped, I used it on the locked door to the north and continued onward. It was in the next room that I found my first actual challenge in this dungeon.

Lurking in this room was my first encounter with the hooded and uniformed beast monsters known as the Goriyas. Lucky for me, these were the orange garbed lesser versions of them. Good for a newbie hero like me. They were curious ones, mustachioed bipedal beasts that shouted threats at me as soon as they saw me, throwing boomerangs at me with deadly precision forcing me to block frantically before I could return fire with sword beams from my weapon.

Yes these were no ordinary monsters as they took first one then two blasts from my sword beam screeching with pain but still continuing to come at me relentlessly. I had encountered my first true footsoliders of Ganon's legions. Eventually their attacks managed to get through as they came at me from multiple angles as I suffered some bruising hits but my leather armor under my tunic held under the assault. Still with me unable to use my sword beams, I had to get in close and fight.

Charging in close to the Goriya in front of me, my shield raised just in time to knock away it's boomerang, I went to work hacking away at it, before the other Goriyas could finish circling around me to attack again.

I was finally able to finish cutting the Goriya in front of me down and just as it vanished in a cloud of smoke, the world reeled around me as a crashing pain lit up in my hand as a Goriya nailed me square in the back of the head with it's boomerang. Gritting my teeth I fixed my stance to face my remaining two assailants.

There's no way I would die in a place like this, alone and forgotten. Determination lit inside of me as I felt my focus sharpen to a razor blade as I moved around more throws of their boomerangs and cut down the second Goriya, before charging it's fellow. I could see it's face contort in fear as it fought on with rising determination.

It didn't save it. I stood triumphant among my slain foes, the picture of a gallant conquering hero.

Ok fine, I was panting for breath, had a splitting headache, and felt like I was going to fall on my face. It had been a rough battle, but hey, I'm just starting out. We can't all be instant experts here right? That's just not realistic.

I'll even admit I was getting a bit worried there for a bit, that was a close call. Then I realized what the last Goriya had dropped. A small glowing heart lay on the floor. No, I'm not talking about the Goriya's torn out heart.

Anyway, Zelda later told me that it was theorized that these mystic hearts were fragments of the Goddesses Love for their creations made manifest in the world. No idea if that was true or not, but these babies had some nice curative properties as I could feel some of my wounds heal and the pain in my body lessen as my breathing finally came easier. Earlier when I had to heal up from my fight with the Zola, I had to use the last of my medical herbs and bandages to heal up. Knowing I had a way to recover was certainly a relief in this dungeon.

Better yet, the Goriya's had left me the gift of a key as well which brought me back up to two keys. For all of about five seconds until I unlocked the door in the west and was left with one key. As I entered the final room at the "beak" of the Eagle dungeon, I only had the soft _**shink**_ sound of blades popping out to warn me as leapt forward just barely in time to dodge two squares that tried to squish me at the door that had popped out blades to impale me at the same time.

Brrr…..nasty…...that's one ugly trap to catch the slow witted. I looked around the room as several large blocks were arranged around the center of the room in a bizarre pattern. That's certainly not suspicious at all is it? All four corners of the room had those conspicuous bladed block traps in them which I dubbed blade traps. They seemed motion activated but quite easy to fake out by waving my sword in front of them to set them off.

This room smelled like a secret, but where was it? I inspected the blocks in the room, before finding one a noticeably different shade of color, pushing it to the side, it moved easily unlike the other blocks that were far heavier. Once pushed aside, I saw a set of stairs leading downward.

Curiouser and curioser. Descending down the stairs I found myself in a dim and dusty basement. Sputtering at the dust and cobwebs, and fending off several annoyingly inquisitive Keese bats, I soon discovered a prize. Nestled in an alcove was the nicest looking longbow I had ever seen. The craftsmanship was exquisite and even with however many years it had laid down here, it still seemed brand new. I could even faintly detect the pulse of magic in it.

It was perfect…..

Yet there was no arrows with it at all.

It figures. Find the best bow ever, and it's still completely unusable as I had no more arrows left. Still…..it'd be a shame to leave it behind. Into my magical bag you go!

Still the diversion had been worth it, and my kleptomania satisfied for the moment. Back to the mission. A quick check of the map showed the Triforce shard was still in the same place as before as I worked my way back to the room I had found the map in by going east one room and south two more.

This time I left the map room to head east and move one step closer to my goal as I unlocked the door with my remaining key.

Only to run smack dab into three more Goriyas. I don't know who was more surprised, me or the Goriyas. Still I snapped out of it first and laid into the closest opponent as they struggle to draw their weapons and get away from me at the same time.

I wasn't above exploiting an advantage, and managed to kill the first Goriya before it even finishing getting it's weapon out, as both it and it's weapon vanished together. Instinct flared in me as my shield flicked up to block the two incoming boomerangs before I charged in to close the distance against the remaining two, the closer quarters combat rendering their weapons too impractical as the struggled to block my wild slashes charged by my magic.

The second enemy fell and dropped a heart which I greedily absorbed into my body and felt my full strength returning as I couldn't help but smirk as I blasted the last Goriya against the dungeon wall with a sword beam, feeling my confidence soar as I got into a rhythm. The Goriya screeched it's defiance as it threw it's boomerang at me, with a roar of my own I deflected the boomerang straight up into the air, and then caught it as it fell back down to me.

Without even thinking I threw it at my foe and nailed it right between the eyes as it slumped to the ground stunned and insensate as I caught the boomerang on the return pass. I finished it off with a quick sword blast before staring at the boomerang which mysteriously remained even after it's master died. Weird, all the other Goriya's weapons vanished with them when they were slain.

Even weirder, how the heck did I know how to use a boomerang when this was the first time in my life I had ever touched one? It was an ordinary wooden boomerang that one might find anywhere, not even magical at all beyond what I had provided when I threw it.

Still I had a job to finish and I was getting close to the goal. I stored my new weapon in my bag and continued on through the east exit into a vast room filled with rows of blocks. A chill filled my heart as a bestial roar sounded from the room to the north, protected by a final locked door.

Something nasty was in the next room, no doubt the boss of the squad Ganon had sent here, but I had more immediate concerns.

All that incoming NOPE! Nope nope nope, uh uh, nope. Not dealing with this!

Sadly I was, as I was treated to the ever so delightful sight of massive blue fleshy hands actually phasing through the walls into the room, and those disgusting wet squishy fleshy sounds as they crawled toward me reaching out to me with their wriggling…..

Oh sweet merciful Hylia I'm going to be sick.

Guh…...sorry. Just even remembering this makes me sick. Those disgusting Wallmasters trying to touch me all over and carry me off to do Hylia only knows what to me. Never before did I wish I had that cheating merchant's blue candle so I could kill these things with fire.

Only the sweet embrace of the flames could cleanse us of the foul touch of these things. Suffice to say with the haunting backdrop of the boss monster roaring in the background to harmonize with the sounds of me screaming like a possessed five year old girl as I hacked away at the unholy spawn that reached out to touch me in all the wrong places.

When it was finally over and all the NOPE had vanished into it's unholy vapor, I finally caught my breath and noticed the key that appeared that would unlock the final door to lead me to the boss of the dungeon. Steeling myself after surviving the nightmare of this room, I unlocked the door and proceed in to face my foe.

As well as commence dodging for dear life against an actual Faore damned dragon doing it's best to burn me to a crisp as it breathed a barrage of fireballs at me as I ducked and dodged for dear life.

I later learned that this beast was named Aquamentus, which in my opinion is false advertisement as it was doing it's best to incinerate me. I demand it to be named Pyromentus forever more!

The beast roared in defiance as it kept up its barrage, but it couldn't breath fire continuously. Eventually I finally saw openings and began to fire back with my sword beams, only to curse as the blasts ricocheted off the beast's tough hide. The creature had to have a weakness!

My focus sharpened as the dragon's blasts seemed to slow almost further as details began to grow sharper to me. I continued to fire blasts, probing for a weakness, when a stray shot hit the inside of it's mouth as it opened to breath fire, and for the first time I heard the beast screech in pain.

Of course! It's armor can't defend the inside of it's mouth! I continued to dodge as I waited for further openings. Lucky for me, the dragon had to expose it's weak spot to attack, and soon I began to rack up hits as the beast screeched with each one.

Just as I felt my stamina began to flag and several near hits on me, a final sword beam struck home as the beast screamed in agony before finally glowing brightly with light and exploding with energy that filled the room.

I watched in awe as the released energy swirled in the room before finally gathering together and finally forming the most beautiful thing I had ever seen in all my days.

A Heart Container.

Unlike the healing hearts from before, these Heart Containers I later learned were divine artifacts formed when beings of immense power were slain and their power was released, or created through the blessings of the Goddesses themselves. It was when I picked it up that I felt new strength and vitality fill me as my life force grew and strengthened.

I would soon learn to love these Heart Containers, but at the time my attention was on the opened door to the east as I moved past my fallen foe and into the next room. There was a large altar in the room, flanked by statues that matched the ones in the dungeon entryway and on the altar was my prize.

A shard of the Triforce of Wisdom. It was a small glowing golden triangle. It was a deceptively simple looking thing, but as I got close I was awed by the sheer feeling of power filling it. This was truly a divine artifact of the Goddesses themselves. One of the keystones of our world. Even a fragment of the real thing was humbling to feel the majesty of it. It pulsed with a golden light, almost feeling like a barrier, but as I reached for it with my trembling hands, I could grasp it easily as I picked it up.

I had done it!

Even if it was only one of the eight, I had recovered a portion of the Triforce of Wisdom!

As I held it tightly in my hands while I inspected it, that was when it happened for the first time.

I felt a presence touch my mind and heart.

" _ **Who are you? Are you the one that Impa sent?"**_ a dignified feminine voice filled my mind as she spoke to me.

The world dimmed around me and faded as a strange sight shimmered into view.

A dark room and a grim cell, sealed by pillars of magical flame. Sitting in the corner wearing a royal dress of purple and gold adorned by the insignia of what I would later be told was the Triforce was a young woman who seemed to be looking straight at me. This beautiful golden haired young woman studied me with calm blue eyes that held a quiet dignity and focused determination.

" _ **Hear me brave young one. In your hands you hold a fragment of the Triforce of Wisdom, my charge to hold and protect."**_ she spoke to me once more.

" **My name is Zelda. Thank you for your brave efforts Hero. We have much to discuss."**

That was the first time that I met Princess Zelda. We met not in body, but in mind and spirit.

Maybe there was something in those old stories after all…

 **That's a wrap for Chapter 5. Sorry for the delay. I've been sick for the last five days and that's slowed my writing down. Hope I was able to make the dungeon crawl interesting to read. Link has met his first surprise. Zelda is going to be a part of this story, rather than just a faceless objective to rescue. Feedback and constructive criticism is always appreciated as it helps a mediocre writer like me improve.**


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